Antimicrobial effects of carbonaceous material functionalized with silver

Abstract

Carbonaceous materials as well as its form functionalized with metallic silver have been prepared by hydrothermal carbonization of fructose. Results are presented to show that nanostructured silver was obtained through the functionalization process. The carbonaceous materials were characterized by: nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement, XRD, SEM/EDS and FTIR. Samples functionalized with silver were analyzed by: XRD and SEM/EDS. The XRD analysis showed that the carbonaceous materials functionalized with silver by hydrothermal carbonization process were successfully performed. Size of silver particles was found to be approximately 32 nm, indicating formation of nanostructure. All samples were tested as an antimicrobial agent for water disinfection. Presence of nanostructured silver in the sample containing 1 mg/mL carbonaceous materials significantly decreased the number of CFU (dCFU = 97.33 %) if compared to the same sample containing the same amount of carbonaceous materials but without of silver (dCFU 65.33 %).